


How it all started

by Hex



Series: The Diary [1]
Category: History - Fandom
Genre: Fish out of Water, History, Medieval, manor, servant - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-03
Updated: 2012-05-03
Packaged: 2017-11-04 19:03:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/397161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hex/pseuds/Hex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A servant's life in a medieval manor</p>
            </blockquote>





	How it all started

“It won’t be easy, and it never will be.” Only now I see how right you were, mother. I can barely hold the quill, my entire body aches but I must write (I’ve missed a meal just to be able to…acquire it).

There are no words I know (and I like to consider myself better acquainted with language that most of the servants) that could possibly describe how hard the work really is. Even looking around the house one must conclude that keeping everything in order would require at least two dozens of arms and legs. In fact, there are only five pairs and no visitor must ever know that master can’t afford more.

Being lowest of the low can only have disadvantages. I am the first to rise, even before the Son does. I have to light the fires, prepare everything in the kitchen for the cooks and then wake the others. That’s when the house really starts to breathe. 

Today was especially important. The chimney in the solar was finally fixed and a small feast in its honor is being held as I write. I gave my best to scrub the floors, clean the windows, and I payed special attention to the mantelpiece. Getting all the dust out of the carvings was almost impossible, and the grim faces of the green-men only kept reminding me to try harder. Hours wasted… The floors must all be muddy by now, wine spilt all over the table, windows greasy and covered in fingerprints.

But, being lowest of the low, has, however insignificant, it’s advantages. Being the first in that room today… I soaked in the morning light and the quietness, walking slowly, brushing my fingers against the wood, imagining I could one day eat by that table, warm my toes by the fire. It was so peaceful, I felt my soul drift far, as if in another time, long after this, wondering if my life will ever have any value. Probably not. I will be forgotten, even those walls I touched so gently, will crumble. No one will know we ever existed. And to be forgotten is to be cursed, therefore I end this day with a new name.


End file.
